The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1887-11-12
EYES OF THE BEE.
Structures whose CompIe1lty Is Dincuit Of
Comprehension.

comprehension.
Any one who will take the trouble to
examine with lens the head of a bee
will see on either side the large, round
ed compound eye, and on the forehead
oryerteX three bright little simple eyes.
The latter are, as their name implies.
comparatively simple in structure, each
with single lens. But the compound
eyes have IA complex structure. EXter-
nally the surface is seen to he divided
up into great number Of hexagOnal
areas, each of which is called facet,
and forms little lens. OF these the
queen bee has on each side nearly 5000,
the worker some 5000 and the drono
upward Of 10000 Beneath each facet
is crystalline Gone, so-called nerve
rod, and other strucsircS, too complex
10 be here described, which pass inward
toward the brain. twill be seen, then,
that the so-callcd compound eye with
its thousands of facets. its thousands Of
crystalline cones, its thousands of
"nervc rods" and other elements, is II
structure of no little complexity. The
question now arises: Is it one structure
or manyP Is it an eye or an aggregate
OF eyes? To this question the older
naturalsts answered coniidently-an
aggregate. And simple experiment
seems To warrant this conclusion. Pu-
get, quoted in Goldsmith's Animated
Nature adapted the facets of the eye
Of fl-pardon me. fair reader, of
aphanipterous insect of the genus Pu-
lex-so as to see objects through it
under the microscope. "A soldier who
was thus seen appeared like an army
uf pigmies, for while il multiplied
1t also diminished the object; the
arch Of bridge exhibited a spectacle
more magnificent than human skill
could perform, and the flame of a can
die seemed the illumination of thou
sands of lamps Although Cheshire,
in his book on the bee, adopts this
view and supports it by reference TO
a similar experiment, il numbers to-
day but few supporters. One is tempt
ed to marvel ut the ability of the drone
TO coordinate $4,000 separate images
into single distinct object. Picture
the confusion of images OF one who
had slipped too freely Of the sweet but
delusiyo dregs of the punch bowl!
Under similar circumstances human
folk are reported to see double. Think
of the appalling condition Of an inebri-
ate -lronc! Those who believe the
facettcd eye TO be one organ with many
parts. contend that each facet and its
underlying structures give, not COM
plcto image of the external object rs n
whole, but the image of Il single point
of that object. Thus there Is formed,
by the juXtapoSition of contiguous
points. a stppled image or an image
i'm mosaic. Hence this view is
known as Mulcr'S mosaic hypothesis.
Lowne has eXperlmented with fine
glass threads arranged like the cones
and nerve rods of the bees eye, and
finds that (cyen when they are not
surrounded 10y pigment, rs are the
elements in an insects cyc) all oblque
rays are got rid of by numerous reilec-
tons and the Interference due To the
different lengths of the rays. Some
modification of the mosaic hypothesis
is now generally adopted. and DR..
HiCkson has recently worked out with
great care the structure of the optic
tract which lies between the crystalline
cones and the brain. MWrdy'S Mdgd-
zine